Eumshik 4: Surasang

Yesterday Erma and I went to the Third Festival of Traditional Royal and Noble Food (재3회 궁중과 사대부가의 전통음식 축제), on the grounds of the Unhyeon Palace (운현궁 雲峴宮). It was put on by the Institute of Korean Royal Cuisine. The institute researches and reproduces the food that was eaten in the royal palace in the closing years of the Joseon (aka Chosun) Dynasty, which ended in 1911. The institute's knowledge comes in a direct line of descent from a "chief cuisine court lady" who served under the last two kings of Korea.

There were tents set up all over the grounds of the palace, under which recreated dishes (some plastic models, some actual cooked foods) and full meal settings were displayed. It was really interesting.

The king ate pretty good, let me tell you. But his meals follow the same basic principles that govern Korean eating today, including the CoRSE (Conservation of Rice and Soup Edibles) Law mentioned in my previous entry. (Hat tip to Monkeyboy for the acronym.)

Here's breakfast, the biggest meal of the day.


In the front you see the rice on the left and the soup on the right, same as today. But of course, the king gets lots and lots of side dishes. This is technically a "12 side dish" table setting. Traditionally, when counting side dishes, kimchis (there are three at the top) and soups (there are two on the right) are excluded, as are the three dipping sauces. For reasons we didn't understand, the large meaty thing next to the soups also doesn't count. That leaves the twelve dishes, in three rows of four, that are properly banchan. (The covered bowl front right is for depositing bones and other inedible bits.)

[Paragraph added October 30, 8:57 pm:
The royal table setting with 12 side dishes is called surasang 수라상. Only the king was allowed to have this many side dishes.]

But there's more! Here's the rest of breakfast:


The raw meat (front right) and the vegetables are grilled by a servant on that metal brazier behind the table, and it all gets turned into a big meaty soup (with the eggs somehow involved), which is then served to the king.

I also mentioned in the last post that there are a wide variety of kimchis. Here's a display of some of them.


Some of them were really intricate and bizarre. Here's one that is wrapped inside cabbage leaves. It's called bo gimchi, "wrapping-cloth kimchi".